“A book is a gift you can open again and again.” –Garrison Keillor–

The global warming movement as we have known it is dead. Its health had been in steady decline during the last year as the once robust hopes for a strong and legally binding treaty to be agreed upon at the Copenhagen Summit faded away. By the time that summit opened, campaigners were reduced to hoping for a ‘politically binding’ agreement to be agreed that would set the stage for the rapid adoption of the legally binding treaty. After the failure of the summit to agree to even that much, the movement went into a rapid decline.

Global warming and climate change will be dealt with more emphatically under the Ninth and Tenth Malaysia Plans, which will feature a chapter on measures to mitigate their effects, the deputy prime minister said. Datuk Seri Najib Razak said initiatives would include stringent regulations on residential projects built in low-lying areas and projects to reduce flooding.

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The floods in December 2006 and January 2007 had caused RM1 billion in damages. It was reported that sand dredging barges had already been stationed in major rivers such as Sungai Johor and Sungai Pahang to deepen beds and widen the banks all year round.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid had also announced that the government was considering reviewing or even cancelling projects that could worsen floods.